State Tax Comparison Calculator — Methodology

How This Calculator Works

The calculator estimates your total annual state and local tax burden in your current state and in up to five states you are considering. It adds three parts: state income tax on your income, property tax on your home, and sales tax on your taxable spending. It then shows the annual difference from your current state, and that difference multiplied over 10 and 20 years.

Inputs and Assumptions

• Income by type: Earned income, Social Security, pensions, investment income, rental income and retirement-account withdrawals. Pensions are assumed to come from qualified employer or government plans.
• Age: Used where a state's retirement exclusion starts at an age. For a married couple both spouses are assumed to be that age.
• Filing status: Uses married-filing-jointly state brackets where we hold them.
• Home value: Multiplied by each state's median effective property tax rate.
• Annual taxable spending: Multiplied by the state rate plus the average local sales tax rate.

Assumptions: you live in the state for the whole year, spend the same amount wherever you live, and own a home of the same value.

Formula

totalIncome = earned + SS + pension + investment + rental + withdrawals

stateTaxable = totalIncome − SS (states that fully exempt it)
                         − pension − withdrawals (where the state
                           excludes them; see Retirement income below)
incomeTax    = stateBrackets(stateTaxable)    // flat or graduated; 0 in
                                              // AK, FL, NV, NH, SD, TN, TX, WA, WY
incomeTax    = not estimated                  // pension or withdrawals entered and the
                                              // state's rules not verified; or SS entered
                                              // in the 8 states that tax some of it

propertyTax  = homeValue × medianEffectivePropertyTaxRate
salesTax     = spending × (stateSalesRate + averageLocalRate)

burden       = incomeTax + propertyTax + salesTax
saving       = burden(current) − burden(target)   // only when both are estimated
10-/20-year  = saving × 10 / × 20     (no inflation or growth)

Retirement income

Pensions and IRA or 401(k) withdrawals are excluded only where we have read the state's own rules. For every other state with an income tax, entering a pension or withdrawals means that state's income tax is not estimated (no figure, and no saving against it), because many states exclude part of it in ways that depend on age, income or the kind of plan.

• IL: Illinois subtracts qualified employer plan (incl. 401(k)), government plan and IRA distributions and Social Security, at any age. Source: IDOR Publication 120, Retirement Income (R-12/25).
• PA: Pennsylvania does not tax distributions from eligible retirement plans (401(a) plans, IRAs, SEPs, Keoghs) after retirement age; for an IRA that is 59 1/2, and the calculator uses 59 1/2 for pensions too. Source: PA Department of Revenue, PA Personal Income Tax Guide: Gross Compensation.
• MS: Mississippi exempts retirement income once the plan's requirements are met; early distributions (federal Form 5329) are taxable. The calculator treats 59 1/2 as meeting them. Source: Mississippi DOR, Individual Income Tax FAQ and 2025 resident instructions (line 46).
• IA: Iowa excludes IRA, pension and 401(k)/403(b)/457(b) distributions for a recipient 55 or older on 31 December. Source: Iowa Department of Revenue, 2025 IA 1040 Schedule 1, line 7.
• AK, FL, NV, NH, SD, TN, TX, WA, WY: no income tax.

Pensions and IRA withdrawals: income tax is estimated for 13 of 51 jurisdictions (the 50 states and DC) so far: Alaska, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Mississippi, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, Wyoming. Other states show "Not estimated".

Only estimated states are ranked. If your current state is not estimated, the result says so and gives no ranking or saving; a target state that is not estimated is left out of the comparison and named. The "no income tax" warnings are given only for the 9 states with no income tax, never for a state whose tax works out at $0 because of its retirement exclusions.

Data Sources

• State revenue departments, tax year 2026 (Tax Foundation's 2026 state rate table as cross-check) — state income-tax brackets, held in our shared state tax data module. States without confirmed 2026 figures use their latest published schedule: California, Idaho, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin (2025).
• US Census Bureau, American Community Survey (2024), and Tax Foundation — median effective property tax rates by state.
• Tax Foundation (2024) — state sales tax rates and average local sales tax rates (not yet updated; still 2024).
• State tax agencies (2026) — which states tax Social Security benefits (CO, CT, MN, MT, NM, RI, UT, VT) and the notes on their partial exemptions.

Limitations

• Income-tax brackets are for tax year 2026, except California, Idaho, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin (2025), which use their latest published schedule. Property-tax and sales-tax rates are 2024 data. States change rates and retirement-income exemptions often; check your shortlisted states' current rules.
• State income tax is applied to gross income less the exclusions above. State standard deductions, personal exemptions and credits are not applied, so income tax is generally overstated.
• Retirement exclusions are modelled only for IL, PA, MS, IA; elsewhere a pension or withdrawals make the state's income tax "not estimated". Pennsylvania and Mississippi tie the exclusion to the plan's retirement requirements; the calculator uses 59 1/2. Early distributions that are excluded only in part (Pennsylvania's cost recovery) are treated as fully taxable.
• In the states that partly tax Social Security, entering a Social Security benefit makes that state's income tax "not estimated"; their exemptions are described in each state's note.
• Where we do not hold separate married-filing-jointly brackets, single brackets are used, which can overstate tax for married couples.
• Investment income is taxed as ordinary income. Separate state treatment of capital gains (for example Washington's capital gains tax) is not modelled.
• Property tax uses a statewide median rate; actual rates vary greatly by county and city, and homestead or senior exemptions are not applied.
• Local income taxes, estate and inheritance taxes, vehicle taxes, federal tax effects (including the SALT deduction cap) and cost-of-living differences are not modelled.

Last Updated

October 2026 — Methodology page published. State income-tax brackets moved to tax year 2026 (states without confirmed 2026 figures labelled above); the list of states that tax Social Security updated to 2026.

14 October 2026 — Retirement income is no longer taxed in states that exempt it (Illinois, $50,000 of pension and $30,000 of IRA withdrawals: $3,960 of tax was shown, against $0). Pensions and withdrawals are excluded in Illinois, Pennsylvania, Mississippi and Iowa from each revenue department's rules; other income-tax states, and Social Security in the states that tax part of it, are marked "not estimated" instead of being taxed in full. The result no longer says your current state has the lowest tax burden when its tax was not estimated (a New York retiree compared with Florida was told so, though New York's property and sales tax alone were more than Florida's whole burden), and Illinois is no longer described as having no income tax when a retiree's Illinois tax is $0.